


The Moon Landings were Faked

by Listenerofshadows



Category: RWBY, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Artemis tries to help with said trust issues, Blake has trust issues, Gen, Oneshot, What else is new
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 04:20:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13333368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Listenerofshadows/pseuds/Listenerofshadows
Summary: Blake wasn’t sure how she felt about the blond woman who wore a tiger mask. It reminded her too much of the White Fang and all the unwanted memories that resurfaced with that thought. It was stupid, really. The White Fang didn’t exist in this world. The woman wasn’t even a faunus--that too seemed to belong only to their world. She can't help herself from asking the woman why she wears the mask.





	The Moon Landings were Faked

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off a prompt on Tumblr where someone asked to see Blake from RWBY and Artemis from YJ interact because of their similarities. Both have abusive connections with villains of the show and both try to hide said-connections from their teammates. This is an one-shot, unless I decide otherwise. It takes place midway through volume 1 of RWBY and after season 2 of Young Justice.

She wasn’t sure how she felt about the blond woman who wore a tiger mask. It reminded her too much of the White Fang and all the unwanted memories that resurfaced with that thought. It was stupid, really. The White Fang didn’t exist in this world. The woman wasn’t even a faunus--that too seemed to belong only to their world.

She shouldn’t hold a prejudice against a woman whom she barely knew. Yet she found herself holding back from completely trusting the woman and the group she was associated with. They were the equivalent of the hunters and huntress of Remnant--except instead of fighting deadly mindless Grimm, they fought other humans. Her team hadn’t understood.

“Blake, we need to talk.” Ruby said, as she anxiously kneaded her hands together.

“About what?” Blake pointedly turned her gaze away from her teammates.

“You know what,” Weiss rolled her eyes, “About how you’ve been a jerk toward the league and the team.”

“I don’t...trust them.”

“Why?” Yang burst out, “They’ve been nothing but kind towards us since we met them! They’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out a way to send us back, y’know!”

Blake sighed, closing her eyes as she reflected on the recent argument. They were right. She had no reason to distrust the League. They’d been given shelter, clothing and food free of charge. They were more capable of figuring out a way back to Remnant than four teenage girls. The only thing they asked of the girls was that they stayed put in the Watchtower.

“Beautiful view, isn’t it?” 

Blake whipped head toward the direction of the voice, startled to see the blond woman sitting in a bench a few feet towards her right. The woman, Artemis, is holding a coffee mug and reading from a college book. Blake wondered just how long the woman had been sitting there.

“Y-yeah,” She murmured, staring out of the window, “We don’t get to see this type of view on Remnant.”

The Watchtower, the headquarters of the League, orbited around the planet much like a small moon of sorts. The technology here in some ways was far more advanced than Atlas’. Blake wondered if had to do with the fact that they operated on a different power source than dust, apparently.

 Their planet looked like a blob of green and blue from up here, with bright yellow dots illuminating parts of it like Christmas lights. The cities’ lights were so illuminate, that they could be seen from outer space. The moon was the most fascinating to Blake. It was small and round and most importantly still intact unlike Remnant’s moon which was shattered into a million pieces.

“Most people on earth don’t. In fact, some people believe the Earth is still flat or that the moon landing was faked.”

“Really?” Blake asked incredulously, “But isn’t there photos and footage?”

Artemis laughed, “Faked, apparently. It’s amazing what lengths some people go through to avoid believing the truth.”

The woman took off her mask and looked at it with a contemplative gaze. Blake could feel there was a deeper meaning to her words.

“Why do you wear that mask?”

It was an impulsive question. A though she hadn’t realized she verbalized until it was fully out of her mouth. Before she could correct herself, the woman answered.

“It protects my secret identity or what’s left of it, anyways,” Artemis grumbled to herself, “the real answer though...the reason I wear it is because originally the alias Tigress was only known as a villain. So…I guess I wanted to show that Tigress doesn’t have to be a villain, she can be a hero.”

 “I don’t get it. You speak like Tigress and you are two separate people...” Blake crossed her arms, “but aren’t you the same person?”

That was another thing strange about the League. They all hid underneath colorful masks and costumes. The names they knew them by wasn’t their real names. They explained it as something necessary to keep their loved ones out of harm’s way from the wrong people. But at times they described their double lives as if they were two separate people inhabiting the same body.

Artemis was quiet for a moment, her grip tightening on the mask, before responding.

“That’s true. I sometimes forget that myself. I first became Tigress because we needed another person to infiltrate a villain organization we were attempting to bring down. There was stuff I did there...that I’m not proud of. But I hadn’t gone in there...things might’ve turned out a lot worse than they did.”

Blake opened her mouth to respond but closed it. If she was given the option, would she infiltrate the White Fang to take it down? She hated how twisted and pervasive the White Fang had become. Even disregarding what Adam would do to a returning traitor for a moment, she couldn’t imagine committing atrocities even if it meant saving lives. She was too....

‘Weak.’ Her mind supplied.

She committed felonies, of course. Back when her mind still feverishly believed what they were doing was for the betterment of faunuses. She had been similar to those people who believed their planet was flat. But never had she actually killed someone or put people’s lives in danger. 

Artemis, the woman, looked at her. This time, she’s the one who asks a question.

“Why do you wear a bow?” She said it in a tone indicating she knows what’s underneath.

Blake doesn’t know how she knows. But she caught her gaze and found a kindred spirit looking back at her. Blake sighed, untying her bow and letting her cat ears free from the tight bindings.

“I can’t let them know.” is the first thing out of her mouth followed by, “they won’t accept me if I’m a faunus. Especially if they know I’m a former member of the White Fang.”

Artemis smiled and patted the seat next to her, wanting Blake to sit down and listen. Blake reluctantly curled up on the seat while she began her story. It turned out Artemis had kept her villainous connections a secret from her team as well.

“I was so afraid of them finding out, that I even jeopardized a mission over it,” Artemis rolled her eyes at her former self, “if your team is anything like my team though, and I suspect they are, they’ll accept you for you. Put some faith in your teammates, Blake.”

Blake stood up as she wrapped the ribbon strands around her cat ears once more. She winced as she tied the bow on tight.

“I’ll…think about it.” She frowned.

Artemis made it sound easy. Talking about telling the truth and actually doing it were two different things. She was sure that naïve, trusting Ruby and chipper, friendly Yang would accept her for who she was and is. It was only Weiss she worried about. She didn’t exactly hide her prejudice against faunus—especially with an assumption that all faunus were involved with the White Fang. Blake wouldn’t be helping in that department. But maybe the heiress would receive it better if Blake told the truth before it became unavoidable to hide.

 As she walked away, she turned back and looked at the blond woman. With a croak in her voice, she said, “Thank you.”

 

 


End file.
